Does anyone know of any schools around Chicago that subscribe to "alive" training"?

I know there is a Straight Blast Gym in Elgin, but it's too far.... :-(

I've been at a few schools in Chicago and most recently I trained at the Vee Arnis Jitsu school in Colorado Springs. I loved the VAJ school. John, the instructor, taught in a very intense manner. I'd like to find a school that has stand up self defense, BJJ, and is taught at a high level of intensity near Chicago.

That's what I'm looking for.

Unfortunately, the MMA type schools seem to shy away from the self defense aspect. The non MMA schools are not really a consideration at this point. By self defense, I mean the other techniques that come into play like realistic knife training (notice, I did not say knife defense... I don't think that exists) and like a good old fashioned stomp to the head when you're able to get an attacker on the ground.... **** like that... not this stupid, useless, PPCT or other "control" crap.

MMA

I know there is Combat-Do in chicago, and my personal favorite Team Torres in Indiana. We were all at the NAGA comps in NOV. 2005, great grappling and NHB fights, very decent kickboxing matches too. As for self defense, to many schools i have been to have static or quasi situational training, but lack real aliveness training. If the school covers all 3 aspects of training, standup, takedown and grappling training then all that you may want is a weapons training class to go to. Everytime I had a weapons confrontation, im the one that lacked the weapons. So traing against weapons cant be neglected also. One thing though a good MMA fighter may very intelligently resist weak takedowns, punches woth no base, so be careful just cause a technique works on the uninformed, does not mean much against a trained MMA fighter. Also I have found that the BJJ, Muay Thai, and MMA training I have received made me a much tougher person.

Gracie Barra

I recently joined Gracie Barra in Chicago, a brazilian jiu jitsu academy.
The environment and staff is very friendly. The teachers, Eddie, Adem, and Marcello, are very friendly and are more than willing to help with anything you need.
There is none of the ego and near-cult worship that other dojos possess. Regardless of the skill level you have, you are treated kindly and there is none of the 'holier than though' attitude where god-like reverence needs to be paid to the instructor.

Personally, when I go to a gym, I like a well kept and organized place but not a sterile environment where you feel like you're in a hospital with a lot of mirrors. I find this place to be the perfect mix for a type of hard, sweaty work you need to do to be a martial artist. It has a comfortable feel to it.

The current size of the gym is addequate, but they will be recently renovating behind it to make it twice its size. They also have a gym that is open to members. There are no long stretches of usless machines, but instead, there is a limited amount of the required equipment present. I was able to do deadlifts, power cleans, and squats without any problems.

When you first start, you're expected to complete 24 introductory classes where you learn basic moves before you move into the grappling and practice sessions.

One of the more interesting perks is that they offer Muay Thai classes on saturdays by an experienced instructor. I have not attended these yet but from what I've been told, these instructions are intended to be real training with eventual full contact.

Overall, I would sum that this gym is one where its primary goal is for effective and "live" training. Their modus operandi is that of live and resisting opponents rather than just static training and repetition. The beginner classes, however, are just to prep the student into the grappling portions.

Website is www.chicagojiujitsu.com and I've seen this mentioned before but I dont think anyone wrote their thoughts on it. Hope this helps.